Does power conditioning really matter?

I would have to disagree with most of the above posts. I use a Monster unit for surge protection, and it has no detrimental effect on the sound of my system. Very recently I tried a PS Audio Quintet, and was extremely disappointed. There was a very slight improvement with digital components, but it was VERY detrimental to LP playback - greatly shrunken soundstage, very compressed dynamics, and it removed other things as well - I could not hear nearly as much of the ambient sound of the original recording space, nor were instrumental timbres as accurate, it seemed to remove some of the harmonic overtones.

All that said, power conditioners are supposedly much more effective for digital video than digital audio, so you might give a cheap one a try for that purpose. I would definitely not recommend one for two-channel listening, especially analog.

Thanks to all who have posted. My friend Matt is skeptical of all this so what we are going to do is get his new system set up and use a surge suppressor he has on hand. I have a PS Audio Ultimate Outlet that I will bring to his house and then we can compare. I think it is clear that if power conditioning helps and it always seems to draw a controversial response, the place in his system where it might help is with his plasma screen. If he can notice a difference, then maybe it will be worth it to pony up a few hundred more dollars.

I would not have a problem using a descent conditioner on that system. Pretty safe way to go. OTOH, as you start to build a hi rez system the conditioner can get in the way of transient speed. Budget conditioners can kill the music.
A crappy surge protector more than likely will be worse. At that point I would plug directly into the wall.

Jlineer, don't waste time on the old product like the PS Audio Ultimate Outlet. If it doesn't improve on the audio or on your friend's plasma, doesn't mean the latest models from PS Audio do not provide improvement as well.

The latest models are MUCH improved over all the old models. The Duet was well worth the money at $399 when it first came out a couple of years ago, with the current sales price of $199, it is just a no brainer. The Quintet with 10 outlets is now on sales for $349 which make it a even better deal.

Yes, power conditioning and surge protection does matter. Buy the best piece that you can afford.